After a series of earthquakes hit Puerto Rico, a joint North Texas effort formed to collect disaster relief supplies for the people affected. {{more: continue… }}?Arlington, Pantego, Kennedale, Fort Worth, Haltom City, Euless and Mansfield fire departments are working together with the Guns & Hoses Foundation of North Texas and former Texas Rangers Jose Guzman and Tim Crabtree.?A magnitude 5.0 earthquake …?Puerto Rico has been hit with multiple earthquakes over the month of January, including a 6.4 magnitude earthquake on Jan. 7, according to the United States Geological Survey website. In February, a 5.0 magnitude earthquake hit the island as well.?Guzman said he has family in Puerto Rico and talked with them about the destruction and the situation themselves and Puerto Rico were in.?So he decided to reach out …
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?We didn?t have to ask twice,? he said on asking for help.
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Pantego Fire Chief Randy Fulton said he received a call from an old colleague of his who told him about Guzman and what he was trying to do. Fulton reached out to multiple fire departments to get the ball rolling and to see who was interested in helping.?He said the response has been great so far, with multiple collection drives held in various Walmart parking lots. He said they are collecting canned food and bottled water.?Fulton said a ministry reached out to him, offering its 18-wheeler for one of the collection drives. He said by the end of the day, the trailer was about three-quarters of the way full.
Another foundation donated 110,000 meals as well, he said.?
?It keeps kind of growing on itself, which is a great thing,? he said.
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Why disaster relief matters …?
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David Swavey, Guns & Hoses Foundation executive director, said there are a couple of reasons why the disaster relief effort matters to him.?He said he has people in his life who have relationships with relatives and people affected by the destruction, and also Puerto Rico is a ?brethren state? to the U.S.?
?There’s a lot of us that know a lot of them through relatives,? Swavey said.
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Swavey said his foundation has collected canned foods, various toiletries including diapers, shampoo and toothpaste, and about 300 cases of water.?The foundation will be collecting supplies through Feb. 20, Swavey said. They haven?t nailed down a way to get the supplies to Puerto Rico yet but are close on finding a way to get it there, he said.?Fulton said the fire department is collecting supplies through Feb. 15. He said a Haltom City firefighter who owns a roofing company in North Richland Hills is offering his warehouse as a dropoff point before the supplies get shipped to Puerto Rico.?He said another roofing company has offered them one of its flatbed trucks to haul supplies off as well.?
?Everybody?s been very gracious,? he said. ?I mean the citizens have been, but also a lot of the local businesses.?
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Fulton said Guzman will take care of the distribution once the supplies get to Puerto Rico.
They are still trying to find a way to get the supplies down there, Guzman said. They are trying to reach out to the Army National Guard to see if it has a plane available to take the supplies, he said.?He hopes to get the supplies to Puerto Rico soon and said the response from everyone has been unbelievable.?
?They know what’s going on there in general, and they open their heart and come on and help out,? he said.
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